THEROIGNE DE MfiRIOOUET Platsea. .Many other battles took place at Thermopylae in later times. The pass is now of little importance as a strategic point. Na- ture has widened it into a swampy plain from the alluvial deposit of the Spercheus and the retreat of the Maliac gulf. At the S. end of the pass is a mound, supposed to be that to which the Spartans finally retreated and on (which they were slain. In a small plain is the Polyandrium, one of the sepulchral monu- ments of the Greeks who fell at Thermopylae, and a few miles beyond are the remains of the wall mentioned above, which can be traced fromj;he Maliac gulf^to the gulf of Corinth. THEROIGNE DE MERICOURT (more properly MAROOTJRT), a French revolutionist, whose real name was Anne Josephe Terwagne, born at Marcourt, Luxemburg, Aug. 13, 1762, died in Paris, June 9, 1817. She was the daughter of a farmer, and was educated at a convent. In 1789 she went to Paris, where she became notorious as the "Amazon of the revolution" and the "handsome Liegeoise." She lived in luxury, gathered around her many conspicuous revolutionists, and appeared with arms in the revolutionary assemblies, in which she spoke with eloquence. In 1790 she was threatened with arrest for participating in violent out- breaks, and fled. Early in 1791 the Austrian authorities arrested her near Lie"ge, and incar- cerated her at Kufstein, Tyrol, for alleged con- spiracy against Marie Antoinette, and subse- quently detained her at Vienna till November. On her return to Paris she became still more opular. In June, 1792, she led a corps of in- surgents, and received a civic crown for her courage. Suleau, a journalist, having reviled her, she turned the mob upon him during the outbreak of Aug. 10, 1792, and he was mur- dered. But when a little later she advocated greater moderation, she was publicly stripped and whipped by infuriated women. This drove her mad, and for the rest of her life she was in a lunatic asylum. See Theroigne de Mericourt, dite la belle Liegeoise, by Fuss (Liege, 1854). THESEUS, a legendary hero of Attica. He was the son of ^Egeus, king of Athens, and ./Ethra, daughter of Pittheus, king of Trcezen. -^Egeus on his departure from Trcezen hid his sword and shoes under a stone, and charged ^Ethra if she gave birth to a son to send him to Athens as soon as he was able to roll away the stone. "When Theseus arrived at maturity his mother informed him of his parentage, and taking possession of the tokens he set out for Attica by land, destroying various robbers and monsters on the way. At Athens he was rec- ognized by his father, but narrowly escaped death from the hands of Medea. He engaged in a war with the Pallantide, the sons and grandsons of -Pallas, the brother of ^Egeus, in regard to the succession to the throne, and was victorious. Next he voluntarily sailed to Crete as one of the tribute youths to be offered to the Minotaur, for the purpose of attempting the destruction of the monster. He gained THESPIS 701 the affections of Ariadne, daughter of Minos, who furnished him with a sword and a clue of thread, with which he killed the Minotaur and escaped from the labyrinth. Hereupon he carried off Ariadne, whom however he left behind at the island of Naxos. Theseus, if successful, was on his return to hoist white sails instead of the black ones which this ves- sel always carried ; but this arrangement was forgotten, and ^Egeus, imagining his son was destroyed, threw himself into the sea. The- seus now ascended the throne. He invaded the territory of the Amazons, defeated them, and carried off their queen Antiope. In re- venge the Amazons marched into Attica, and entered Athens itself, but were finally van- quished. He married Phsedra, and to her pas- sion his son Hippolytus fell a victim. (See PILXDBA.) Theseus figures in the principal heroic legends of ancient Greece. He was one of the Argonauts, was engaged in the Caly- donian hunt, fought with Pirithous and the LapithfiB against the Centaurs, and also assist- ed Adrastus in regaining the bodies of those slain before Thebes. Aided by Pirithous, he carried off Helen from Sparta when she was only nine years old. Attica was in conse- quence invaded by Castor and Pollux. Me- nestheus incited the Athenians to rise against their ruler ; and Theseus, finding it impossible to sustain himself, retired to the island of Scy- ros, where he was destroyed by the treachery of King Lycomedes. In 476 B. C. the oracle directed his bones to be brought from the isl- and to Athens, and in 469, when Scyros was .taken by Cimon, it was pretended the body was found. His bones were laid in the in- terior of the city, and the temple called the Theseum, built over the spot, served as a sanc- tuary for poor men in dread of the -powerful, and for slaves in case of cruel treatment. At the battle of Marathon Theseus was reported to have been seen armed and aiding the Athe- nians. Festivals in his honor were celebrated on the eighth day of each month, and the fes- tival termed Oschophoria was said to have been originated by him after his return from Crete. To him was popularly ascribed the re- institution of the Pythian games. - THESIGER, Sir Frederick. See CHELMSFORD. THESPIS, the founder of Greek tragedy, a native of Icaria in Attica, lived in the time of Pisistratus (ab*out 540 B. C.). The ancient traditions represent him as the inventor of tragedy, and to him is also ascribed by some the invention of masks. According to one account, Thespis was in the habit of travel- ling through Attica at the time of the festival of Bacchus in a wagon, and upon this porta- ble stage performed comic plays. It is also said that he found tragedy already existing in Athens, but made in it the simple and impor- tant alteration of introducing an actor for the sake of giving rest to the chorus. Nothing which he wrote is extant, but the titles of four of his tragedies have been preserved.
